Five and six-year players make up the AP All-America squad; a Penn State pair is recognized
The Associated Press All-America team was revealed on Monday, and Jayden Daniels of LSU, the winner of the Heisman Trophy, was one of seven players in their fifth or sixth season of college football who were chosen for the team.
Fifth-year quarterback Daniels, who has accounted for 50 touchdowns and nearly 5,000 yards of offense this season, won the Heisman and AP player of the year awards last week.
Missouri’s Cody Schrader, a sixth-year back and former Division II player who leads the country in rushing yards per game (124.9), joined him in the backfield.
Linebacker Payton Wilson of North Carolina State, the winner of the Chuck Bednarik Award for national defensive player of the year, was the other sixth-year member of the AP first team.
The other five-year players to make the first team were Cooper Beebe, a guard from Kansas State; edge rushers Laiatu Latu from UCLA and Jalen Green from James Madison; and T’Vondre Sweat, a defensive tackle from Texas.
College athletes who attended classes during the pandemic of 2020 were given an additional year of eligibility, and they are still making an impact across the nation.
Eight sixth-year players, including Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr., the Heisman runner-up, were chosen for the second and third teams, joining eleven more fifth-year players who made the first two. On January 1, Penix and the second-seeded Huskies take on No. 3 Texas in the Sugar Bowl semifinal of the College Football Playoffs.
For the second year in a row, Ohio State wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. and Notre Dame offensive tackle Joe Alt were named to the first team of All-Americans. Beebe and Brock Bowers, the tight end for Georgia, went from the second team to the first this year.
No. 5 With three first-team appearances, Alabama led all teams. All-Americans, all defensive players: linebacker Dallas Turner, and cornerbacks Kool-Aid McKinstry and Terrion Arnold.
On January 1, the fourth-seeded Crimson Tide take on top-seeded Michigan in the Rose Bowl semifinal of the College Football Playoffs.
Running backs: Oklahoma State’s Ollie Gordon II, in his second year; Missouri’s Cody Schrader, in his sixth.
Joe Alt, a third-year at Notre Dame, and Olu Fashanu, a fourth-year at Penn State, are the tackles.
Guards: Zak Zinter, fourth year, Michigan; Cooper Beebe, fifth year, Kansas State.
Jackson Powers-Johnson, an Oregon third-year, is the center.
Brock Bowers is a third-year tight end from Georgia.
Wide receivers: Rome Odunze, fourth year, Washington; Marvin Harrison Jr., third year, Ohio State; Malik Nabers, third year, LSU.
Second-year Coloradoan Travis Hunter is an all-purpose player.
Kicker: Miami (Ohio) third-year player Graham Nicholson.
FIRST TEAM in charge of defense
James Madison’s Jalen Green and UCLA’s Laiatu Latu are two edge rushers in their fifth year of play.
Two fourth-year Illinois players and fifth-year Texas player T’Vondre Sweat are interior linemen.
